Former NBAer Nick Van Exel’s Son Convicted of Murder

Nickey Van Exel, the 22-year old son of former NBA point guard Nick Van Exel, is headed to jail after a jury found him guilty of murder. Per the Dallas Morning News: “Dallas County jurors on Thursday convicted the son of former Dallas Mavericks player Nick Van Exel of murder in the December 2010 shooting of his best friend in Garland. Prosecutors had argued that Nickey Van Exel, 22, committed capital murder when he killed Bradley Eyo, 23, because his motive was retaliation for Eyo’s plans to ‘snitch.’ They said that Van Exel killed Eyo 10 days before he was to tell Harris County authorities about armed robberies the two men committed together earlier that year. ‘Snitches get stitches,’ prosecutor Elaine Evans said in closing arguments Thursday. ‘In this case, he’s dead.’ But after more than two hours of deliberations, jurors opted for a conviction on the lesser charge of murder, which gives them far more leeway when they begin deliberating Van Exel’s punishment after testimony Friday. The first-degree felony carries a punishment ranging from five years to life in prison. A capital murder conviction would have triggered an automatic life sentence. […] Van Exel had no visible reaction. His father, now an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks, left the courtroom through a back exit without commenting.”